My very first mod for my 2012 M3 was a CSL boot lid. I thought to myself at the time of purchase that the CSL Boot lid from JL Motoring looked the part and function as some higher end vendors. I quickly purchased it and their customer service was top notch. The product arrived at my doorstep the following day and I was satisfied with how it was delivered.

My girlfriend's brother did warn me about replica parts and warned me about build quality. I could easily look over the imperfections as it is a lower cost alternative that's going to be painted over.

The day came when I took my car to the body shop to get this piece painted and installed. However, the body shop (30 years experience and 5 stars on yelp), gave me some bad news. I dropped by the shop to see what all the fuss was about. The owner of the body shop gave me a walkthrough and pointed out numerous fitment issues with the trunk. The kicker was that none of the trunk switch and tail lights fit into any of the holes. The gaps were too blaring and overall I was very displeased.

I emailed JL-Motoring and they were happy to respond and stand by their product (5 years of experience making this trunk and have installed on numerous local cars). JL-Motoring went so far as to offer assistance to the body shop to complete the installation. However, I chose not to give them a second chance seeing how poorly the fitment worked initially. I'm ok with taking financial hit (that's part of life to learn to lessons). If I could, then I would ask for a full refund.

No one should ever get a headache when they purchase something. Replicas are never a perfect fit but I would've expected higher build quality from a company that's been making them for 5 years.

If they are willing to remedy the situation why wouldn't you give them a second chance?

OP, your review sounds really harsh for what actually happened. Aftermarket parts need massaging, always. Any replica is going to need more massaging than the authentic equivalent. Maybe your body shop is used to bolt-n-go OEM parts? Second opinion? Maybe you got a bad trunk made by a new guy? Let them send a replacement? No. Instead of giving them a chance to remedy the situation (which you admit they wanted to do), you jumped to conclusions and wrote a nasty review. Very unfair on your part IMO.

OP, your review sounds really harsh for what actually happened. Aftermarket parts need massaging, always. Any replica is going to need more massaging than the authentic equivalent. Maybe your body shop is used to bolt-n-go OEM parts? Second opinion? Maybe you got a bad trunk made by a new guy? Let them send a replacement? No. Instead of giving them a chance to remedy the situation (which you admit they wanted to do), you jumped to conclusions and wrote a nasty review. Very unfair on your part IMO.

Customer service was top notch. I'm disagreeing with the quality of the part. You're automatically making excuses to stand by your company. I'm standing by my review. I was sold a product that didn't meet my expectations. Why should I give them five stars for a bad experience? I'm not here to make enemies. I'm just sharing my frustrations. I think that's justified.

If it's going to cost me more money and time to work a bad part then I'm going to spend money on a company that does it right in the first place. That's my choice. Am I sad that it didn't work out? Yes I am. I was amped up to get that part and think I went with a reputable vendor. The customer service was top notch. But now you start going into all these possibilities for why I recieved a bad part, the fact is that their quality assurance must've let one slip by and I the customer paid for it.

That's not fair to me or to the company. I chose to resolve the situation by taking the hit to my wallet and going with another vendor. Fixing a bad part is not my job.

Here's a list of the problems:
1) The trunk didn't close. The JL-Motoring Trunk lid hole for the trunk switch was angled sharply to the right. This prevented any smooth normal trunk closure. This misalignment failed to engage the trunk latch.
2) The bolt holes didn't line up with OEM equipment. I think this imperfection is acceptable and requires body shop to make it work.
3) The trunk has noticeable gaps. Again, an imperfection that comes along with aftermarket parts. However, the trunk is never flushed with any of the edges. And the number of blaring gaps is too much even for someone that has no attention to detail.
4) The tail lights don't fit on the trunk lid at all. You can't even put the tail light in.
5) The carbon fiber sagged on the trunk lid. An imperfection that most other companies would discard and rebuild a new one. I was willing to let it go since it was being painted afterall.

Overall the fit was 4/10.

My end conclusion was that I had purchased a part of my car that pragmatically didn't fit , close properly, and tail lights didn't fit. I was displeased to take the hit to my wallet and made my own decision to move on.

I chose another vendor and dropped off my new CSL lid at the body shop. I visited the body shop a few hours later. The fit and quality of the build was ten times better. Granted, it still needs some work, being an aftermarket piece, but that AT LEAST THE TRUNK CLOSES AND THE LIGHTS FIT.

I have the JL Bootlid on my M3, had it painting, no fitment issues whatsoever. It is possible you got an "off" batch of production, but I have had the same bootlid for the past two years everything has fit fine. I have also purchased several products form JL motoring, all have been great. They are a great aftermarket parts distributor (with others having bad horror stories), and I have nothing but good words to say about them. I am sure they would do what is necessary to remedy the issue, as long as one is reasonable (not saying your are not), and if you were totally dissatisfied, I am sure they would take back the product.

anybody know the number to JL-Motoring??? I've ordered the blue HID light kit from them over 3 weeks ago!!!, emailed them twice, and STILL haven't heard from them... My order status has been in "process" since then and I went to their website and I couldn't find a customer number or anything...very disappointed at this point...

Met up with James to pick up a M performance spoiler and hes a stand up guy. The fitment is near 100%, not bad for reps. To the OP, if JL Motoring is willing to swap a trunk you should of let him try to fix the issue, there are bad batches even for guys like Vorsteiner, Challenge etc etc....

I think maybe you should have taken them up on their offer to help... and then if you still had issues ask for a replacement. At least they responded and offered to help. Alot of other vendors wouldnt have even bothered. Also on a side note I have never bought anything from them, this is the first I have heard on any forum about JL giving a poor service.
Give them a chance buddy

But I moved on. I bought another trunk from a different vendor. I don't have any interest in purchasing bad parts from quality reputable dealers. There are lot of people that are supporting JL Motoring and that's fine. But if you really stand by their product, maybe those people should buy my bad trunk at the full price that I paid.

Would you want your children to be driving around in a car that oops, they forgot to put air bags in?